Teacher workshop uses ancient abacas

(May 21, 2009)--The UTSA Academy for Teacher Excellence in the College of Education and Human Development will host a staff development workshop for area classroom educators from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday-Friday, May 21-22 in Buena Vista Street Building Room 1.338 at the UTSA Downtown Campus.

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Author and mathematics expert Everardo Lara Gonzales will conduct the workshop using a nepohualtzitzin, an abacus-type instrument used in Meso-American societies, to relate numerous indigenous children's games to today's Math TEKS standards.

The goal of the Pre-Columbian Mathematics Workshop is to help create more culturally proficient educators to meet the demands of a growing number of culturally diverse students. The workshop is co-sponsored by the SAISD bilingual department.

Additionally, the academy will host 25 students from the Young Women's Leadership Academy from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, May 23.

The Academy for Teacher Excellence was established as a hub for school districts, community colleges and UTSA to research, design, implement and evaluate educational programs addressing statewide and local educational issues associated with a growing diverse population. A major focus is the implementation of a Title V Hispanic-serving institutions grant to coordinate community resources in preparing teachers for culturally diverse classrooms.

To register for an information session, e-mail ATE@utsa.edu with your name and the information session title. For more information, call (210) 458-6170 or 458-6174.